These New Changes Are Making It Harder To Get to Disney World

Let’s face it: planning a trip to Disney World is no small feat. You have to plan out which parks you want to visit, decide if you want to pay for Genie+ (and wake up early to buy those Lightning Lanes), and book your dining reservations months before your trip. All that work practically equates to a full-time job!

Walt Disney World

And sure, we’ll admit that some recent changes have made things a little easier for us guests, like Mobile Order, the Skyliner, and mobile check-in, but lately, we’ve noticed some changes that are making it HARDER to get around Disney World. Let’s talk about it.

From little annoyances to MAJOR differences, there are a lot of changes to keep up with at Disney World!

Airport Transportation

Back in July, Mears Connect and the Sunshine Flyer announced that the two companies agreed to merge their services into one combined service to transport guests from the Orlando International Airport to the Disney World hotels.

Mears Connect bus

The new service, Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine, still provides the same transportation to and from the airport and eligible hotels but now “with enhanced booking capabilities, guaranteed 24/7 service, greater operational efficiencies, and a hassle-free experience.” Sounds great, right? Well, here’s the problem.

A Mears Connect bus on the road

A press release from the two companies stated, in part, “Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine is the only 24-hour shuttle servicing both A/B and C Terminals for both arrivals and departures.” Thanks to this merger, guests have fewer options to get to Disney World. Less competition means fewer chances to score a lower price for a trip to/from the airport.

Click here to learn more about the merger

Parking Trams

Before the pandemic, Disney World had several fully operational parking lot trams in all four parks to help guests get to the front of the park. After a long day of being on your feet, it was nice to be able to sit down on the tram and take a ride to your car.

Magic Kingdom tram

Over time, Disney slowly started to bring the trams back to some parks, but we’re still missing the trams at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Come on, Disney! Help us out here!

Alright. These Merciless Disney World Parking Lots Still Don’t Have Trams, But We Have Solutions

Rideshare Change

Clearly, Disney secretly has it out for our poor, tired feet because EPCOT’s latest rideshare change is forcing us to walk even MORE to get to our ride. If you’re planning to use a rideshare service, such as Lyft or Uber, one pick-up location just changed.

Rideshare sign at EPCOT

Now, if you’re heading to EPCOT via rideshare anytime soon, you will need to walk to the EVE lot. For reference, the EPCOT rideshare pickup spot used to be at the front of the parking lot — right by the park entrance! Now, it’s much further away.

New rideshare zone

At this time, it’s unclear whether this is a temporary change due to construction or a permanent relocation.

EPCOT parking lot

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that some of these problems go away soon — we could use a break! In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.